


Death's Twilight Kingdom

by keerawa



Category: Divinity: Original Sin (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Misses Clause Challenge, POV First Person, Undead, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 04:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17114897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keerawa/pseuds/keerawa
Summary: The fate of the world wasn't decided on the battlefield.  It was settled in bed.





	Death's Twilight Kingdom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta, Karios. Trigger warning in the end notes.

I stretched against the silk sheets, lulled by the quiet lapping of the waves against the hull and my sated and vaguely sore body, remnants of a long evening’s pleasure with Fane. Tomorrow — I didn’t want to think about tomorrow. Not yet.

I’d been surprised when Fane had responded to my usual friendly flirtation with a curious, hesitant yes. He’d been inexperienced, but eager to learn and try new things. It was casual at first; celebrations after a victory, quick desperate fucks when we barely made it out with our lives.

I found myself intrigued by him. I wanted more. And so, one night I asked him to take off the mask, the illusion of a handsome elven man that he wore, and come to my bed in his true form. The touch of his cool bone hands running over my skin, pressing inside me, had been an exotic thrill. Now it was sensuous and familiar, even comforting.

The door opened. Fane stood highlighted against the light for a moment before stepping inside and closing it. He moved to the bedside and stood looking down at me.

“You’re awake,” he said.

I chuckled. “Well, you certainly did your best to wear me out.”

I could barely make out his silhouette in the darkness. He was silent, not moving or breathing, still in the way only the Undead could manage.

“I’ve imagined this moment, many times, since we … became intimate,” Fane said. “Tomorrow one of us will become Divine. It must be me. You see that, don't you? Only I can bring back my people, restore the Empire. I thought perhaps, if we were lovers … would you allow me to make the claim?”

I considered it. Lohse and Ifan had already said they would support me. They didn’t trust Fane. As for me, I _wanted_ to trust him. Fane, at his best, was clever, funny, loyal, and loving. At his worst, he was obsessed and arrogant, sparing no thought for anyone who got hurt while he was pursuing his goals.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said, honestly meaning it. “I can’t.”

He nodded, and bent down to kiss me. The light from the edge of the door caught on a dagger in his hand.

I gasped. My armor and weapons were on the other side of the room, past him. I scrambled to the far side of the bed, trying to gather my scattered thoughts to cast a spell. With a guttural curse, he threw the dagger in his hand. It embedded itself in the bulkhead a foot above my head with a dull thud. I glanced up at it, swallowed hard, and then looked back at Fane. He paced to the far side of the tiny cabin and then spun around to glare at me.

“You!” he accused me. “I gather information, I plan. I make contingency plans, and back-up plans for my contingency plans. And no matter what I do, I still end up destroying everything that matters. But you! No one could ever accuse you of brilliance,” he said.

It hurt, a little, even though I was nowhere near Fane’s level when it came to strategy and powerful magic. I watched him carefully. A few more steps to the left, and he’d be next to my sword. I readied a spell to swap our positions.

“You operate on instinct and pure emotion,” he ranted. “Your decisions aren’t optimal. Sometimes they don’t even make sense!  And yet, somehow,” he took a deep, shuddering breath. “Somehow you always know the _right_ thing to do. So if you don’t think I can be trusted with the power …” He drew himself to attention, hands behind his back. “I renounce my claim,” he said formally. “Should we survive the battle tomorrow, Divinity will be yours.”

What could I say to that? I slid down into the bed and lifted up the sheet. “Come to bed,” I urged him.

He stared at me for a moment, then gave a harsh laugh. “Why not,” he muttered. He slipped into bed. I turned over and he settled into his usual place at my back. “I’ve doomed my people yet again, haven’t I?” he murmured into my ear.

“I can save-”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he interrupted me.

I bit my lip and nodded, my hair brushing against the pillow and the smooth bone of his forehead. “I’m going to need a lot of good advice, to keep from messing this up,” I told him.

He sniffed, but I felt him relax against me. “Now _that_ we can both agree on,” he said.

With that settled I shuffled back into his embrace, and drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for threatened partner violence.


End file.
